Beating the odds

Lung cancer, the No. 2 cause of death in the U.S., is increasingly curable

Dr. Lydmilla Bazhenova, associate clinical professor and lung cancer team leader at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, agreed. She emphasized that physicians in this field treat all patients with compassion, regardless of public opinion.

“The view that lung cancer is self-inflicted is why it has a stigma,” she said. “Other diseases can be caused by diet or lifestyle. One patient I had said: ‘If I say I had a heart attack, would people ask me if I ate a lot of bacon? No. So why is it OK for people to say I did this to myself?’ People automatically think that, but it still deserves as much money as other cancers and other diseases.”

Facing reality

Funding and public awareness of lung cancer doesn’t match up with what statistics prove is a deadly problem. In 2010, the National Cancer Institute devoted $281 million to lung cancer research, a little more than it allotted for colorectal cancer, a little less than prostate cancer and less than half of what was given to breast cancer.

According to 2012 estimates from the American Cancer Society, new cases of breast cancer outnumber lung cancer cases by 710. But the deaths from lung cancer are estimated at 160,340, while breast cancer deaths at 39,510. As for public awareness, compare October to November. Did you know November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month? What is October dedicated to? Think pink.

“As an oncologist who specializes in prostate and lung cancers, I must confess to a degree of annoyance at all the activities around breast cancer,” Kosty said. “October has so many events, even the NFL is involved. Things seem heavily tilted toward breast cancer.”

“The poster child for activism is breast cancer, partly because it largely affects women. They tend to network and get behind a cause more than men. ... Women often get involved and fundraise,” he continued.

Wheatley suggested another reason: Lung cancer has fewer survivors.

“Many advocates of lung cancer education are patients,” Wheatley said. “It’s hard for sick people to run an organization. That’s why I got involved. I am healthy and can move the bar a bit.”

Catching it early

Currently, prostate and breast cancers are relatively easy to detect.

“That’s not been the case with lung cancer,” Kosty said. “We’ve suffered from not having effective screening tools – for instance, mammograms for breast cancer and rectal exams for prostate. There’s really no equivalent for lung cancer. But a couple of years ago, a research lab led a trial that showed low-dose spiral CT scans for people at high risk (past and current smokers) to be effective screening.

Early lung cancer has zero symptoms. In the absence of screening, many folks go a long time before being diagnosed, he added.

Many people know that chest X-rays often indicate lung cancer, but don’t realize by that time the lung cancer is in its later stages.

“Often, lung cancer diagnosis is incidental,” Kosty explained. “For example, someone might have pneumonia and get a chest X-ray, which shows a dark spot on the lungs that can ultimately lead to a diagnosis of lung cancer.”